SKIN & BONES ; C. HARTLEY

CHAPTER SEVEN

★彡

MATILDA SHRIEKED herself awake, jumping in her chair, she found that once again she was tied to it, this time her whole chest and arms were bound to the chair. With her eyes adjusting to the darkness, Matilda screamed, directly in front of her, was the barrel of a pistol pointed directly at her.

She looked up, seeing Ashley still unconscious and in the same predicament she was in, to her right, Chris was also tied to a chair. On either arm of his chair was a button, Matilda followed the wire of the button, gasping in horror seeing that the buttons lead directly to the guns positioned in front of her and Ashley.

"Guys! Guys wake up, please!" She wiggled in her chair but to no avail. "Please, please wake up!"

Chris was the first to wake up out of the two, gasping awake he winced adjusting his eyes to the dark, he looked down at the buttons first, following them like Matilda had, his eyes locked onto hers, a sob wracking through her body.

"Tilly?" Was all he said before Ashley woke up, screaming at the sight of the gun in front of her.

"Oh my god, oh my god, what's happening?!" Ashley cried out, flailing her body wildly. With all three awake, saw blades directly above them began to rapidly spin; they all gasped and looked to the ceiling.

"I see we're all awake." The distinct voice of the psycho chimed in all around them, Matilda flinched at the voice. "Christopher has already made a difficult choice today... But unfortunately, he's going to have to make one more. I'm sure you've all noticed the guns. The buttons. The blades. The game is simple. Christopher will choose one to kill and if he doesn't, all three of you will die. You have ten minutes."

Matilda let out a strangled sob, slowly processing the words spoken and situation she'd been placed in. Her eyes stared into the circular barrel of the pistol, trying to get accustomed to its presence.

"This isn't fair! You can't make me do this!" Chris yelled to his surroundings, he squirmed in his chair, a poor attempt at breaking free.

Ashley babbled incoherently, continuously shaking her head with disbelief.

Matilda tilted her head back, she stared up at the spinning saws as tears ran down the sides of her face and into her ears; she'd started to hear a ringing, a tense ringing that managed to drown out Chris' yelling and Ashley's sobbing. This couldn't be real, could it? Her whole life hadn't led to this — getting shot unceremoniously in the face. Should she have been hopeful Chris would choose to save her life? She didn't want to think about Ashley dying.

"Tilly..." Chris' broken voice called out, her head lulled to the side and she looked at Chris, her eyes filled with tears. "I don't... I don't know what to do..."

Matilda nodded, slowly, she shifted in her seat, her back was straight, pressed against the cold wooden chair. "I know, Chris. It's okay." She replied softly.

"Chris please, please I don't want to die!" Ashley cried, noisily moving in her seat in an effort to get his attention.

Chris looked to Ashley before staring at the middle of the table the girls were sat at, he looked broken, an unimaginable guilt weighing on his chest, his back and his heart. "Tilly, I don't know what to do." His voice was quiet, wrapped in defeat.